Nationwide Audax UK Strava Group

[caerau]

Or pedestrianised cycle paths in my experience

[EdinburghFixed]

There are lots around me which get marked as dangerous, seems pretty random and down to individual taste (is a narrow quiet strip of tarmac really dangerous, but dodging HGVs and taxis over four lanes is fine? wtf?)

Happily, you can just recreate the allegedly dangerous segment whenever you like, so I freely recreate one or two whenever I'm interested in what's going on near us. I figure my arbitrary judgement is at least as good as whoever it is that marks them down, and I have infinite patience 

[bikey-mikey]

There are lots around me which get marked as dangerous, seems pretty random and down to individual taste (is a narrow quiet strip of tarmac really dangerous, but dodging HGVs and taxis over four lanes is fine? wtf?)

Happily, you can just recreate the allegedly dangerous segment whenever you like, so I freely recreate one or two whenever I'm interested in what's going on near us. I figure my arbitrary judgement is at least as good as whoever it is that marks them down, and I have infinite patience 

  thanks - did not know that and the possibility gives me ideas 

[caerau]

Thanks for the invite Mikey, I thought I was already in this group :/

[thing1]

San Francisco Randonneurs (not surprisingly, seeing where Strava is HQed) already went through this "is it too competitive for rando" soul searching a while back. Their solution, of sorts, was to rename the strava club to Super Fast Randonneurs as explained here . TL'dr: it sounds less officially part of SFR, and is a tongue in cheek way of reminding anyone signing up to it that others may be watching ride segment / moving times and other unsportsmanlike whatnot.

IMHO the presence of a club (official sounding or otherwise) is neither here nor there. At the end of any significant sized ride there's a load of tracks uploaded anyway and Strava automatically connects your ride to anyone else doing it that day, and it's then trivial to see who "won" the ride, especially using labs.strava.com/flyby/viewer/.  Against that watching for segment records across different events is a pretty dull hobby, and the "clubs" UI (as it currently stands...) makes it very tedious to mine that info.  Now... if they introduced a new "club record" category for all segments x clubs, with new placings advertised with the same prominence as PRs and KOMs, yeah that could get viciously competitive in some clubs I know. [I think if they ever did introduce such a thing, it'd have to be opt-in on a per club basis less it completely changed the feel of all the more touring focused clubs]

[alotronic]

Well I joined just to see what the fuss was about!

Previously I had thought that joining would compel me to kill myself on ridiculously small hills on the London commute searching for ladder spots. Having acyually looked at it there are a number of responses:

- Thank gods I am not a racer anymore, this would be like crack for my old competitive (sub 35 yrs) self
- Thank gods I don't commute with the Garmin on
- It actually quite interesting after the fact to look at the long rides in a social kind of way - to see what kind of speeds people actually ride at.
- How many segments? WTF? Is everyone mad? What happened to enjoying being out in the countryside?

So, yes, mildly interesting. Certainly a lot less mucking about than Garmin Connect (no surprise). But not the devil either. I would like to think I have sufficient maturity to avoid the pitfalls (chasing segments, really) and but only time will tell. I suspect I will only look at at ever so often and then forget about it. I much prefer the social side of this forum and people's experiences of their rides rather than their speeds - I'm sure we've all done that in the past and it'a a dull game 

A

[Ningishzidda]

I wonder if that guy in Scotland had Strava recording in his hotel room?

[andyoxon]

However doesn't joining a group imply that you want to compare your times with others?

It could equally be about comparing your distances with others, which - like it or not - is somewhat fundamental to audax.

Or about communication / route sharing stuff that I don't really know a lot about.  I only started playing with Strava for the heatmaps.


Of course, I suspect if you're on Strava and you see a AUK (or YACF) group and are a member of AUK (or YACF), you might join it because it's there.

I may join Strava Audax gp because it's there.  Despite a leaderboard, I'm in no danger of really 'comparing' myself as I know my current rough distance and available ride time limits; especially with a forthcoming summer of home DIY projects.  It is interesting to have ready access to what other audax rides people are doing and the details; might even spur me on to a bit to one of my next goals - some more 200s, and also a first 300.   

I suppose like many people I do a fair few non-audax rides, which also go into the Strava mix totals.

[menthel]

Well I joined just to see what the fuss was about!

Previously I had thought that joining would compel me to kill myself on ridiculously small hills on the London commute searching for ladder spots. Having acyually looked at it there are a number of responses:

- Thank gods I am not a racer anymore, this would be like crack for my old competitive (sub 35 yrs) self
- Thank gods I don't commute with the Garmin on
- It actually quite interesting after the fact to look at the long rides in a social kind of way - to see what kind of speeds people actually ride at.
- How many segments? WTF? Is everyone mad? What happened to enjoying being out in the countryside?

So, yes, mildly interesting. Certainly a lot less mucking about than Garmin Connect (no surprise). But not the devil either. I would like to think I have sufficient maturity to avoid the pitfalls (chasing segments, really) and but only time will tell. I suspect I will only look at at ever so often and then forget about it. I much prefer the social side of this forum and people's experiences of their rides rather than their speeds - I'm sure we've all done that in the past and it'a a dull game 

A

How very dare you, I will have you know that the col du Balham Hill is a true alpine giant!

[Bugloss]

Well if you really feel the need to get that KOM you can always do a "Digital Lance" .................. http://www.digitalepo.com

Personally, I prefer mothers moped Or a stiff tailwind, that's why you may see me out on my old Merckx on the windiest of days

[EdinburghFixed]

One thing that's quite amusing is that you can obviously use Strava for running too. The demographic of runners and cyclists has a significant overlap, but there's such a massive difference in self-perception.

IME runners are rarely embarrassed to want to run quickly or compare their speed with other runners, and certainly don't have any problem with segments being picked out. It's tempting to argue that there are no people interested in long distance running, casual running where they're primarily going for a spin in the fresh air and not trying to set records, and well just about every parallel with cycling imaginable, but I think that's a delusion, based on the kind of people I observe running near us.

[Ningishzidda]

I can also use Strava in my Kayak. I will attempt to beat my PB between Lincoln Rd bridge and Dovehouse Lane bridge on the Grand Union this evening. 1 mile if anyone’s interested.

[Bugloss]

And I will attempt to beat my PR for walking the dog this afternoon

[Ningishzidda]

The big question is,,,

Uphill or downhill?

[rabbit]

I like Strava to be able to monitor my own weekly mileage, elevation and time on bike.  It's nice seeing what friends are doing and where they have been riding. 

I force myself not to look at the segment stuff to prevent me from trying to smash climbs when I should be spinning, or from riding way out of my (currently somewhat out of practice) MTB skills on the downs.  If I don't look, and don't receive email notifications, then I don't get dragged in.  I wouldn't join the Audax UK Strava group for that very reason.  I don't want Audax to be competitive against others, although I like to push myself.

[Ningishzidda]

I like Strava to be able to monitor my own weekly mileage, elevation and time on bike.  It's nice seeing what friends are doing and where they have been riding. 

I force myself not to look at the segment stuff to prevent me from trying to smash climbs when I should be spinning, or from riding way out of my (currently somewhat out of practice) MTB skills on the downs.  If I don't look, and don't receive email notifications, then I don't get dragged in.  I wouldn't join the Audax UK Strava group for that very reason.  I don't want Audax to be competitive against others, although I like to push myself.

Buy a Mileater Diary. Details in the Handbook.
At the end of the year, you get a lovely medal.

AFAIK, the Mileater Diary still runs on ‘Honesty’. 0.5 km error each day should average out in the end.

[Bugloss]

The big question is,,,

Uphill or downhill?

Flat, I live in Denmark.

[andyoxon]

Although it's a leaderboard, it is only a weekly leader board, so those at the top are really only those who happen to have done a 600 or greater in up to the last seven days.  So if one ignores the short segment time 'noise', it just acts as an indicator as to who's been out recently for a long ride.  I can cope with knowing that...   

[mcshroom]

Also means that you can see where some of these big rides actually pass through. Checking in occasionally and looking at the long rides is quite fun, and may just persuade me to ride further (ie: encourage long distance cycling ) to try some of them out

[rabbit]

I like Strava to be able to monitor my own weekly mileage, elevation and time on bike.  It's nice seeing what friends are doing and where they have been riding. 

I force myself not to look at the segment stuff to prevent me from trying to smash climbs when I should be spinning, or from riding way out of my (currently somewhat out of practice) MTB skills on the downs.  If I don't look, and don't receive email notifications, then I don't get dragged in.  I wouldn't join the Audax UK Strava group for that very reason.  I don't want Audax to be competitive against others, although I like to push myself.

Buy a Mileater Diary. Details in the Handbook.
At the end of the year, you get a lovely medal.

AFAIK, the Mileater Diary still runs on ‘Honesty’. 0.5 km error each day should average out in the end.

I am very much planning to next year 

[Ningishzidda]

The big question is,,,

Uphill or downhill?

Flat, I live in Denmark.

On the canal, I meant.

[Bugloss]

The big question is,,,

Uphill or downhill?

Flat, I live in Denmark.

On the canal, I meant.

Oh! Well uphill of course, see if you can get KOM.

[Bobby]

I know it's not a competition, but (for the first time ever) Earlier I was at the top of the YACF group for this week, down to 6th in the AUK club though 

Never going to happen again, too many people that I could never complete with to try 

[falcon]

I think strava is great, my brother in law has changed from a 40 a day smoker to a segment hunting monster. Taken him two years but I think strava has had a big part of it. He did his first 100 the other week and then followed it up with a kom. Chapeau, top man. Each to there own.....

[JohnOnABike]

Another really good reason to use Strava is that you can 'play back' rides after the event; it can be interesting seeing where others were on the same ride, what groups formed, etc....

For example, I rode in the Ditchling Devil 200k yesterday & can replay it here...

http://labs.strava.com/flyby/viewer/#151085252

(To work it, you just select the check-boxes of the people you are interested in on the left, & press 'play')

To see this for any other ride, just go to

http://labs.strava.com/flyby/viewer/

and enter the activity number.
Well worth using Strava just for this feature IMHO.